OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT
2011-12
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Danny Silver – Acadia University
Daryl Hepting – University of Regina
OUTLINE
Purpose and Mandate of the Committee
 Progress in 2011-12
 Focus on Saskatchewan
 Requests/Recommendations for coming year
 Discussion
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PURPOSE OF THE OUTREACH COMMITTEE

To increase Canadian youth interest in the study
of Computer Science and its many areas of
research and application
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
2011-12 MANDATE OF THE COMMITTEE
To shift the CS perspective of teachers,
counselors, administrators, and policy makers in
the educational systems of our prov./territories
 To encourage formal teaching of computer science
and growth of Computer Science Teachers
Association or CSTA-like organizations
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CSTAs provides opportunities for P-12 teachers and
students to better understand computing disciplines
and to more successfully prepare them to teach and
learn. http://csta.acm.org/
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS
-WEBPAGE
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS – CSEDWEEK
2011
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15 universities reported events versus 26 in 2010:
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Interactive sessions with students of all ages
New Website initiatives – eg. LaunchCS
Lab tours by students, School visits by faculty
CS info/discussions with Teachers/CIPS
PD for CS teachers
Robotic / Programming / Game design competitions
Open houses and CS science fairs
Why fewer events:
Timing is poor for Canada because end term / exams
 Grace Hopper theme lacks traction in Canada

[Details on CACSAIC Outreach Website]
OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
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PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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Newfoundland and Labrador
CS curriculum in high schools has faded since 2002
 Approach to Min. of Education being considered
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Nova Scotia
Province-wide Robotics/Programming competitions
growing and supported by government
 Core group of P-12 teachers identified
 CSTA Application is being developed
 First CSTA mini-meeting to take place in October as
part of Math Teachers Association meeting
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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New Brunswick
Core group of P-12 teachers identified for CSTA
 Awarded $13,500 from Google http://cs4hs.com/
 CS4HS event planned for June 15, 2012
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Prince Edward Island
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Eager to participate more in coming year
Quebec
Universities actively conducting outreach activities
 Representative (U of Montreal) requires assistance
identifying and contacting teachers
 CSTA-like organization does not currently exist
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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Ontario
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ACSE fills the role of CSTA http://www.acse.net
CS has migrated from Tech. Ed. to Science
Min. of Education responsible for CS curriculum
ACSE provides PD for CS teachers
ACSE annual conference, http://www.acse.net/conferences
Manitoba
CSTA committee being formed this year
 Active university outreach for recruitment
 Annual High School Programming contest
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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Saskatchewan
CSTA chapter formed in 2012
 Daryl Hepting will provide details
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Alberta
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Significant progress beginning with Iverson exam
Annual teacher in-service meetings / work fairs
High school teaching symposiums held in June/Jan.
CSTA chapter formed in 2012 - cstaab.com
iteachcs.cpsc.ucalgary.ca website created as a CS
resource for teachers
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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British Columbia
Joint university effort underway (UBC, Victoria, and
Simon Fraser); will then pursue high schools
 CSTA chapter application submitted in early May
 17th Western Canadian Conference on Computing
Education took place on May 4-5,
2012http://www.cs.ubc.ca/wccce/2012/
 In co-op with ACM Special Interest Group on
Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
PROGRESS ACROSS CANADA
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Northwest Territories
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Nunavut
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Aurora College ?
Nunavut Arctic College ?
Yukon
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Yukon College ?
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
FOCUS ON SASKATCHEWAN
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CSEdWeek 2010
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Luncheon in Regina with CIPS – Tuesday, December 7
 Sandra Zilles, CRC Tier 2 spoke
 Some local high school seniors sponsored to attend
luncheon
U of R became CSTA institutional member
Free for 1st year, $200/year afterwards
 Access to good resources
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Developed CS20 online course with Regina Catholic
during Summer 2011
Based on 1999 curriculum
 Chose Scratch, Build Your Own Blocks, and Greenfoot
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
FOCUS ON SASKATCHEWAN

CSEdWeek 2011
Luncheon in Regina with CIPS – Tuesday, December 6
 Dean Elliott, Science Consultant with Ministry of
Education spoke
 “Putting Computing into Science” PD workshop –
Wednesday, December 7
 Scratch, Build Your Own Blocks, Greenfoot + CS
Unplugged
 Open to teachers of Grades 6-12: 23 attended (60 CS
teachers in SK)
 Formed CSTA chapter
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
FOCUS ON SASKATCHEWAN
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Presentation to Guidance Counsellors – March 2012
Showed video from careermash.ca (CCICT)
 Used employment statistics from ICTC
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Science Rendezvous – May 12, 2012
Light Bot game, LEGO Mindstorm robots
 Gadgets
 Well-attended and well-received
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“Discovering Your Direction” – May 15, 2012
First Nations Grade 9 students from Regina and
surrounding area
 Binary guessing game with take-home cards, then App
Inventor to program it
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Summer Science Camp sessions: TBD
OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
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FOCUS ON SASKATCHEWAN
Percentage of Gr. 12 Students by Subject
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Biol 30
Chem 30
OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
Phys 30
CS 30
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IDEAS/FEEDBACK
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Get HS students on university campuses
Teachers need free resources they can use (Greenfoot:
expensive textbook)
Promote common K-12 curriculum, standard resources
CS Methods courses (ECS): dev. teachers & certifications
Work to get CS speakers and sessions at other teacher
conferences (ACM Distinguished Speaker program?)
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
REQUESTS / RECOMMENDATIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Chairs support for a CSTA-like organization in every
province – create CSTA liaison, consider CSTA
membership
Encourage CCICT, ICTC, ITAC, CIPS to make K-12 CS
education a strategic priority
Create a Canadian CS Education Week that works better
for Canadian timeframe and theme
 Proposed early Feb, 2013 / Cdn CS Champion theme
Budget for up to $12,000 to support Outreach committee
efforts in 2012-13
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Committee meeting at SIGITE 2012 – Oct 11-13, Calgary
Cdn CS Ed Week efforts / advertising
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
DISCUSSION
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12
WHY ARE SO FEW STUDENTS INTERESTED IN
CS / BARRIERS TO CS EDUCATION
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Misunderstanding - parents, teachers think our children know
about CS because they are more knowledgeable about using tech
Culture – Canadians are not predisposed to high tech jobs –
many do not feel we are able to build high tech companies
Learning with ICT - Great!
Use of ICT in domains - OK!
Building ICT/CS - very little done
Tech. Ed. – What CS is taught is done so in Tech. Ed courses
Lack of CS human resources – teachers no little about ICT/CS
Lack of CS curriculum in most provinces
Poor math skills – students opt out of math in grade 9; not
needed for other high paying professions (health care, law, psych)
Peer pressure - not cool to run with with geeky group
Women and IT special challenges – culture, greater peer
pressure to conform
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OUTREACH COMMITTEE REPORT 2011-12